Issue after carb balance.

[TheGazWaz]

Good morning all,

Balanced my carbs yesterday for the first time ever. 53 Bandit 1200 with 25k on the clock. Took the revs to about 1600 and balanced them spot on. Took the bike for a quick spin and all was good. In fact a lot smoother and much more responsive so result.

On my way to work this morning, basically 18 miles of dual and single carriage ways, I noticed some hesitance as I slowed down and when I got to a roundabout and stopped the bike felt very groggy like it was only firing on 3 or fuel starvation? Like a kinda burbling sound as I pulled away. Once it got passed 2000 revs it was absolutely fine again. Very smooth.

I turned back because I have to go through traffic towards the end of my journey and I didn’t want it cutting out and leaving me stranded.

Made it home and grabbed the car.

On my way to work I had a thought of what it could be. I’d remembered that to get to the vacuum points on the carbs I had to loosen the big sir clip round the carb boot to twist it round to gain access to the vacuum points. All four were loosened and I know for a fact that I’d forgotten to re-tighten them. Could this be the cause of my issue? I’m thinking(hoping) that because they’re lose around the carb body they are drawing in more air than they should thus screwing the mixture up?

Valves were done last week although I wasn’t happy with the huge amount of tapping as I’d gone generously medium on the tolerance so before I did the carbs I re did the valves to a lower 0.10 on the in takes and much quieter now.

That will be my first port of call tonight. Incidentally it didn’t do it until the bike was fully warmed up. That’s why I didn’t notice anything last night when I took it out for a spin.

Any ideas?

Cheers all

Gaz
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Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[Pol Anorl]

loose boots are more than likely the issue
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[Michelle L]

Did you manage to sort it out Gaz ???... Its funny as when you was setting your valve clearances I was checking mine was still set the same which they was and I balanced my carbs yesterday..

Was yours far out ?... 1-2 on mine was 2-3 centimetre's out ( home made manometer oil ) 3-4 was 5-6 inches' out.
When I balanced 2-3 carbs , gosh the oil on the manometer there was about 2 foot difference so mine needed setting.
No tried it out yet though...

Hope it was an easy fix for you
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Ride safe , if you can not ride safe , ride free....

[TheGazWaz]

No go I'm afraid. I hoped that tightening the clips on the carb boots would sort it but it's still very rough. Using the car for work at the moment which is a mare but needs must.

I'm hoping to get the tank off this week some time and have a look. It won't be much.

I'm also thinking that as I balanced the carbs with the boots not tight I may have been getting false readings so I'll probably balance again.

What I don't get though is that the first 10 minutes of my journey were faultless and the bike performed admerabely. I thought then maybe it get rough when it's warmed up but I got home from work last night and started it and pipes 2 & 3 didn't get hot so only running on 1 & 4. Need to check the coil that runs 2 & 3. Maybe something came lose. I put the choke on and 2&3 came to life but still running rough.

Beginning to lose heart a little bit in this bike. I've spent the last two weekends fixing whilst everyone else is out riding their's
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Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[Michelle L]

Hi Gaz , sorry to hear that , but your probably right it will not be much..
I thought the bandit 12 is more or less the same as the 6 , why did you loosen the boots ?..
I am thinking your maybe right about getting false readings.
When I first did the valve clearances , just like you I unbolted the coils to get the cover out but now I do not unbolt the coils , although I do take the battery out so there is no mishap's..

I would say the coil is fine if the cylinders are firing up when you put the choke on..
I put my money on you got false readings when you loosed the boots..
You are letting the bike warm up first as well chap before you balance them...

Don't lose heart in it , gosh I spent more time taking my bike apart when I first got it then riding it..
I do like working on my bike but it also pisses me off when I am taking it apart every 5 minuets so I no how you feel.

I would just start from scratch and don't loosen the boots this time

____________________
Ride safe , if you can not ride safe , ride free....

[TheGazWaz]

Cheers Michael,

I had to loosen the boot ring to be able to twist them out of the way so I could get to vacuum points on the carbs. For some reason on my 53 plate the vacuum points are tucked right underneath the rail that holds the 4 carbs together. I only undid them enough to be able to twist the clips out of the way so not major lose.

I did warm the bike up first. I noticed though, after I'd balanced them at 1600 revs, when I turned the idle back down, the needles we'rent balanced any more. I kinda expected the needles to show the same across all 4 at any revs once it had been balanced.

The middle screw was a twt to get to as well. Tucked right down into the body at a bldy awkward angle. I really don't know why they make it so hard. I put a dot of white paint on each of the three screws so I could locate them easy each time.

I won't give up on it Michael and for the most part I enjoy it. I'm doing my house up as well so I'm juggling that. Trying to keep the missus happy and all that.

Gaz
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Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[Michelle L]

Who's Michael ?

Oh yours is not the same as mine then as I do not have to loosen the boots , that's a bit of a pain in the rear..

I did not think to look on tick over when the manometer was connected , once mine was balanced I took the pipes off..

Maybe someone else on here with a newer bandit will be able to give you better advice than me..
As it was running right before you balanced them I am sure it should an easy fix.

Good luck with it , keep us posted
____________________
Ride safe , if you can not ride safe , ride free....

[TheGazWaz]

Wooops... Sorry Michelle, I'm at work at the moment and I've spent a lot of my day emailing a guy called Michael so it's become automatic.

My bike did run perfectly after I did the balance but after 10-15 minutes riding it went poo and has been since.

I'll get to the bottom of it and let you know.

Cheers

Gaz
____________________
Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[TheGazWaz]

OK.. I had another go tonight and still not running well. I did notice that downpipe number 2 is staying stone cold. I pulled the plug and it's dry as a bone. Would suguest no fuel getting in. What would cause this?

Cheers again all.

Gaz
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Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[mentalboy]

[Michelle L]

Yeah what mentalboy said

Gaz it was running ok before you balanced the carbs ?.
Because when I got my bike it was only running on 3 cylinders and I did 100s of miles on it before I noticed , and that was only because I was cleaning the bottom of the engine and realised one of the down pipes was cold,, yeah it ran fine as well lol...

I no it might sound like a silly question but like mentalboy said you did put all the plugs back on and there still there ?..
Also the vacuum pipe did you put it back on the same carb ? , mine is number 4 cylinder..

Its strange how it runs right for ten minuets then starts running rough..
when you balanced the carbs , you did not do it with the choke on did you ?.
Also you say it runs fine for ten minuets is that when you take the choke off it runs rough ?, just a though.
____________________
Ride safe , if you can not ride safe , ride free....

[TheGazWaz]

After carb balance it run like a dream. Set off to work next morning, still run like a dream. About 10-15 minutes into my journey it started running rough so turned round at that point and went home.

Went to work in the car. That same evening I started it. It started easy enough but still running rough and it's been like it since.

I seems to only play up at low revs and idle. When I was riding it home it was absolutely fine at anything over 15 mph. Anything below that it run rough.

I'm thinking maybe a foreign body has entered the carbs while I had my supplemented fuel supply running.

So, it ran beautiful at first after balance so something changed.
____________________
Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[mentalboy]

1600rpm seems a bit high for idle speed, does the manual recommend such a high speed?
I've always balanced at idle.

[Vincent]

OP, have you checked that all the vacuum take-offs have their covers on?
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[TheGazWaz]

Yeh.. checked all the covers. I thought that maybe one had come off but they're all on there.

Off the top of my head I can't remember what the manual states for RPM balancing but I'm sure it's somewhere between 16k-18k.
____________________
Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[Vincent]

Sounds lkike something simple....can you get the float bowl off that carb and check it's getting filled? Any difference when running on "Prime"?
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[TheGazWaz]

No different on prime. Last night I had the tank off and a direct feed down the pipe.

Carbs are my next call but tbh I've not had much to do with them. How easy are they to remove?
____________________
Went like this.. 43 years old(2013) decided to do CBT to get a 125 for new job. Bought 2011 YBR, loved it for three months then hated it because it was too god damn slow. Did DAS 4 months later then bought RF600 Loved it, sold it bought Bandit 1200(K3). EFFIN lOVED IT. Wanted something a bit more sporty so got Triumph Sprint ST 955i (53). Not sporty enough so now on my GSXR 1000 K3 and absolutely love it. 1 year down the line, nearly died way too many times on this bike. Sold it. Had a 6 month break. Missed biking so now, Aug 2019 have a 1999 ZX9r. What a beauty she is too.

[Vincent]

[nowhere.elysium]

Are all the bolts that go into the takeoff points on the inlet manifolds in sufficiently tightly? They can mess things up titanically with ease.
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